6 Tips To Help You Master Manual Mode On Your Digital Camera

New photographers — and even those with some experience — are often apprehensive about using manual mode on their digital cameras. Like using a smartphone to capture your memories, it’s convenient to simply point and shoot and let the camera work out the specifics regarding exposure. Is it really worth taking a chance to set the exposure manually only to potentially miss the moment? In a word, yes.

The creative potential that accompanies shooting in manual mode on your digital camera will push your skills (and the quality of your images) to the next level. The best part is that being in full control of your camera is really not so difficult. Like anything creative you want to learn, the more you practice, the better you become, the easier it gets, and the more you enjoy it.

Modern cameras come crammed with high-tech AI and tons of options. I was lucky to start with a camera that had none of this. I started out with my lovely old Nikkormat FTN, a Nikon that’s now 53 years old and still works fine. There is no auto anything on this camera. I had to learn to use ISO, aperture and shutter speed (also known as the exposure triangle) to obtain well-exposed photos. That’s all there is to it, just three settings.

Here are six tips to help you embrace using manual mode before your next shoot:

Tip 1: Commit to Mastering Manual Mode

I learned to touch type recently. I can now type without looking at my fingers (most of the time.) I started using a typewriter over thirty years ago, but I never bothered to commit to learning how to touch type. Using a computer, I’ve mainly used the mouse and a tablet. Once I committed to learning to not look down, it didn’t take me long at all. I took a few tutorials and practiced every day.

You can master manual mode on your camera the same way. Once you set your camera to manual and leave it there, you will be surprised at how naturally it comes to you.

Tip 2: Read Your Meter or Monitor

Well-exposed photos are made when the “right” amount of light is recorded by the electronic sensor or film. Your camera’s light meter or monitor will give you information about the exposure. All modern cameras have light meters. When you are in manual mode on many cameras you will see the influence of your exposure settings on the monitor as you make adjustments.

Essentially, all you need to do is make sure the meter is reading zero or the image is looking good on your camera monitor. You make this happen by adjusting the ISO, aperture and shutter speed controls.

Tip 3: Start With ISO

Putting a roll of film in my old Nikkormat, or any other film camera, determined the ISO. With digital cameras, this setting is far more flexible. ISO is the measurement of how sensitive the film or electronic sensor is to light.

ISO 400 is the setting I use most often. When the light is very bright I set it lower, to 100 or 200. When there’s not so much light, like inside or at night, I set my ISO to a higher number. At higher ISO settings, the quality of the image will deteriorate, so it’s best to keep it low.

Treat your ISO as the foundation of your exposure. Only adjust it when you need to based on your choice of aperture and shutter speed.

Tip 4: Adjust Shutter Speed To Control Movement

Your camera has a shutter in it. Like blinds or curtains, when it’s open it lets light in. The longer it is open, the more light comes in and affects the sensor or film. The shutter speed settings are measured in fractions of seconds or whole seconds.

The moving people are blurred because my shutter speed was slow, just 1/4 of a second.

When there is any movement in the scene you are photographing, your choice of shutter speed will also affect the outcome of the photo. When something in your composition moves during a long exposure, it will appear blurred in your photo. If your camera moves when you are using a slow shutter speed, the movement can also cause blurring.

Choosing a shutter speed of 1/250th of a second or faster is safe to avoid camera movement blur and subject blur unless your subject is moving quickly. Photographing subjects like birds flying, motor racing or boxing, for example, you will need to use a faster shutter speed to avoid motion blur.

Tip 5: Adjust Aperture To Control Depth of Field

Your camera’s lens has a diaphragm in it called the aperture. You can open or close this in varying degrees to let in more light or less light. The aperture settings are measured in f-stops.

The aperture you choose also affects how much of your photo is in focus. This is known as the ‘depth of field.’ When your aperture is open wider, letting in more light, there will be less in your photo in sharp focus. The amount in focus depends not only on the aperture setting, but on a number of other factors, including the following:

The size of your camera’s sensor

The lens you’re using

The distance between the subject and your camera

If you choose to use a very high f-stop, say f/22, less light will affect the sensor because the opening of the diaphragm is very narrow. At wider aperture settings, more light can enter the lens and affect the sensor. An aperture setting of f/2.8 on a 105mm lens will result in an out-of-focus background if you are close enough to your subject, as in the example below.

Tip 6: Balance The Exposure Using All Three Settings

Balancing the ISO, aperture and shutter speed settings is essential in creating well-exposed photos. This does not mean that you’re always going to balance the exposure to be neutral (as illustrated in tip #2 above). You might want to underexpose a scene to make it more dramatic, or your style might lean more towards the bright and airy look. Either way, you’re still going to have to balance the exposure to get the look you’re after. Learning to use the exposure meter to read the light well will enable you to make informed decisions and create the images you envision.

Camera exposure meters are calibrated to read from mid-gray. If you are photographing very light or dark subjects, the meter may not give you an accurate reading.

Dig Deeper

Once you get a taste of using manual mode, you may love it and want to dig deeper. You’ll feel more comfortable using your camera and you might just be amazed at the creative possibilities that present themselves when you have a better understanding of how ISO, aperture, and shutter speed affect the images you capture.

is a professional photographer, photography teacher, and filmmaker with over 30 years experience.

Kevin is offering SLR Lounge readers his FREE course for beginner photographers which will build your confidence in photography. You will learn how to make sense of camera settings and gain a better understanding of the importance of light in photography.
Check out Kevin’s Blog for articles with a more personal approach to photography.

Q&A Discussions

Thanks Kevin for the article and the tips. I usually shoot in Manuel mode where I control the light but in aperture priority mode when the light quickly changes and I have to react fast so that I can’t miss a moment. Like in weedings for example

Hello Kevin LJ – I too entered the photography world, many years ago as well, with a very similar film camera set -up: Nikkormat FtN; mine had the silver body with a 50mm f2 lens. Once you slid the window tab to the correct “ASA” value, it was then a matter of setting your desired shutter speed & aperture to meter in the proper exposure.

Very low tech back then, but understanding the basics of proper exposure certainly has carried on into the digital era.

I, also, learned to shoot with a fully manual film camera. When I transitioned to a DSLR, I spent some time shooting in full auto. I purchased some lens adapters to allow me to use my old film camera lenses with my Canon camera. Since the lenses were manual only, I resorted to using full manual on my digital camera.

I enjoyed your article and I am glad to see you mention that the camera meter gives medium gray and the photographer should compensate their exposure accordingly. I do wish you had added a few more sentences here to emphasize the point. It is a well written and informative article, even to an experienced photographer.

Thanks for your feedback Steve. I am pleased to know as a more experienced photographer you found my article informative. I strive to write in such a way that people from beginner to more experienced can be encouraged, but it’s not easy!

Thanks you! Everything is well laid out and presented beautifully. However I must be missing something because the recommendations seem backwards. It is absolutely true that shutter speed controls motion and aperture controls depth of field (along with helping to balance ambient light with flash and that’s a different topic) but shouldn’t *these* be the foundations and then ISO adjusted to provide sufficient sensor sensitivity to support them?

Thanks again. I’m certain what is presented is correct and only want to know what I am not understanding.

Thanks for your comments Bob. It’s personal preference how you balance the exposure triangle. Depending on your style and subject matter it may well be more suitable for you to adjust your ISO more frequently. I don’t believe there are many hard and fast rules when it comes to photography.

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